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Wednesday, August 04, 2010

I would like you to meet my Mum. That's her there. And me. She's prolly 24, I'm prolly, um, a few months? This is my favourite picture of us.

My Mum's a clever lady. She's a lawyer. Actually, she's a solicitor but a lot of you are international types and if I introduce her as a solicitor a lot of y'all are going to get the wrong idea. But that's what she is.

She's also a brave lady. She doesn't buy and sell houses or write up contracts or advise companies about how they can do bad things without actually breaking the law. (Not that lawyers do that, ever. Terribly noble profession don't you know.)

She represents people who can't afford representation. Sometimes that means she represents someone who is getting divorced or someone who hasn't paid their mortgage for a million months and wants to arrange some shady deal with 'a businessman from Down South'. But a lot of the time it means she represents people in horrible, desperate situations, people with stories that would make you feel kind of ill inside. Stories that would once you got home in the evening to what was supposed to be your time away from such things, would make you worry and fret and cry. And she puts her all into it. She puts her heart and her time and her love into it.

But in the defense of the "bad" lawyers, your highest duty is to your client. Your duty to your client is sometimes considered above the law, depending on the law. So even though they seem bad, those lawyers are also good. Plus, one of the biggest tenants of being a lawyer is that all are entitled to avail themselves of the legal system.

I'm a little late in commenting on all this business, but (1) I love how proud you are of your mum, it always makes me feel glowy inside when you see people appreciate moms in particular, is that terribly cheesy? (2) absolutely your W&P will be proud of you for you being you, and (3) I know this is a happy post, and this last bit references your Scary Post, but can I say your Scary Post scared me too? I have friends on all sides of this conception business (can I make it sound any more distant? sorry!), and selfishly I thought all about myself + how I've been *married 5 years* and I'm still not sure about babies. And I could barely fathom the weight of trying for just about that length of time, and here I am, still not sure where I am. But goodness, Self, that post wasn't about me + my insecurities -- so, I just wanted to throw out my belated support hug, and say that I hope you remember you are Loved here, and your W&P will love you bunches bunches bunches, as does your hubs, and hopefully *that* scares away all of your hesitations. (and I will work on mine). And I, like the others, would like to read whatever + however much you would like to share :)

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'Blindfold me and read out the Facebook statuses of my friends, without their names, and I will tell you which are American and which are British. Americans post links to inspirational stories and parenting blogs packed with life lessons. (British parenting blogs tend to be packed with despair and feces.) ' Ruth Whippman, America the Anxious